In Millie Perez's 'Home Runner,' Running Away Leads You Right Where You Belong

By Andreina Rodriguez

Imagine being trapped in a manipulative relationship — engaged to a New York senator who sees you as nothing more than a trophy wife, while your own father schemes alongside him to get him elected as governor and keep you looking the part. That's exactly where we find Daisy Stonehaven at the start of Home Runner, the latest installment in Millie Perez's New York Monarchs series, out now.

When Daisy finally decides she’s done, it's her best friend Luke Weston — the Monarchs’ grumpy coach and unlikely getaway driver — who offers her an escape and a cabin far from the press. What follows is a slow-burn, forced-proximity escape story where the real danger isn't the scandal waiting back in the city — it's the feelings Daisy has been ignoring for a lot longer than that.

Told in dual POV, Home Runner gives readers both sides of a friendship teetering on the edge of something more. Daisy is rebuilding her life in the mountains while trying to ignore the way Luke looks at her. Luke has been holding back for over a year and knows he should keep it together but one shared cabin and one shared bed make that nearly impossible. And all the while, the city, the scandal, and the consequences of Daisy's choices are waiting for them both back home.

For those who have been following the New York Monarchs series from the beginning, this payoff has been a long time coming. Daisy has been quietly present since Strikeout, when Isabella Morales, Strikeout’s leading lady, notices something in Daisy’s eyes and reaches out with an exchanged number and a girls' night invite. By Fair Trade, the picture sharpens: surrounded by the relationships blooming within the Monarchs family, Daisy starts to sense that what she has at home looks nothing like what love is supposed to look like. When things come to a head, the whole room rallies around her with part concern and part pity. It's Luke, a man of few words and even fewer warm expressions, who silences them all: "You don't love him, Daisy." 

And then there are the smaller moments — Luke taking her home when girls' night gets too rowdy, and him stepping in for lunch when Luisa Álvarez (the Monarchs’ GM and the heroine of Fair Trade) can’t make it. These moments are quiet, consistent, and easy to miss if you weren't paying attention. But readers were paying attention. The tension between these two has been simmering across two books, and Home Runner is finally, deliciously, the moment it boils over.

If you're expecting Home Runner to follow the typical romance playbook, think again. Yes, there's a slow burn: the one-bed situation, a shirtless and sweat-slicked Luke swinging an axe, and one memorably inconvenient moment where Daisy needs help getting out of her wedding dress, only to realize it's attached to everything except her underwear. But our people-pleasing, sweet "Daisy girl," as Luke calls her, reaches a point of not-so-sweet well before the external chaos — her father, her ex-fiancé, the press waiting back in the city — catches up with them. The two still have plenty to work through, but Perez gives them a foundation to stand on before the real storm hits. Daisy's subconscious, it turns out, has a lot less patience than she does. And the story is better for it. Between Daisy's hunger to explore and Luke's instinct to coach, challenge, and let her lead, things unfold in a way that feels earned rather than rushed. 

As Daisy puts it: "Having his attention is intoxicating. It's unlocking a part of me that's always felt too shy to ask for what I wanted."

At its core, Home Runner is a book for the people pleasers, the good girls who have spent too long holding on to whatever — or whoever — has been standing between them and themselves. But beyond the delicious moments Perez serves up so well, there's a lot of heart here too. The story goes deep into Daisy and her brother Nick’s family, the weight of losing their mother, and what it means to find people who truly show up for you. 

It's a reminder that the right support system doesn't just cheer you on from the sidelines — it refuses to let you shrink.

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About the Author: Millie Perez was born and raised in New York City, to Dominican immigrant parents. She's spent most of her life moving around to different places, like Puerto Rico, Miami, Boston, and even had a short stint in New Zealand. Millie has her Masters in Couples and Family Therapy and Mental Health Counseling. After becoming a new mom, she decided to take a break from the Mental Health industry, and took a leap of faith. She wrote her debut novel, You Never Forget Your First: And He Just Might Be The Death Of Me, during her son's naps and after he went to sleep at night.

When she's not trying to wrangle a toddler, you can find her watching Bravo or a true crime documentary. She now lives in Florida with her husband Hugh, and her son, Beau.

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Andreina Rodriguez is a journalist from Queens, New York. Her work appears on all 12 NBC local websites, Refinery29, CNBC, Latino Rebels, The Mujerista, #WeAllGrow Latina, and Modern Brown Girl.

You can follow her on Instagram @andreina_rod or @readwithandreina, and follow her work through andreinarodriguez.com.